Got up at 4 this morning, got rolling by 4:30, heading down the coast to Santa Cruz. An almost-full silvery-bright moon was reflected in a broad path of shimmering light on the black ocean; called moonglade, nice word.

   Around Pacifca, the moon was about to set on the western horizon, and it was as orange, well — as an orange. I’ve seen lots of orange rising moons, but never a setting one. Stunning. Free.

  BB King and Ruth Brown were doing a spirited version of Ain’t Nobody’s Business, Ruth’s voice like a blasting-off rocket. Then the new Devil’s Slide tunnel, which took forever to build. Made me think of the new Bay Bridge, which overall, sucks. The central tower with cables is sort of elegant, but for like a mile before it, there are 100s of dumb looking lights on white poles maybe 50′ high. Ugly.

   Andrew Loog Oldham has a great program on Sirius Radio’s Underground Garage channel. Very knowledgeable, has creds (early Stones), is funny, plays a lot of 60s music I’ve never heard.

   Now fortified with excellent Verve latte and apple pastry, am heading out into a beautiful Santa Cruz day. Ah, Southern California!

It’s an impossibly beautiful morning, just exquisite. California blue skies. Fields on ridge have blush of green — early rains. Nights getting colder. Stars. Moon a week away from full. Red apples in trees, blue in sky, green on hills, warm morning sun. I’m taking a break from (the final stages of) Tiny Homes on the Move (I swear it’s getting better by the day) to write this.

More reggae I’m listening to “Train to Skaville,” archived on https://www.dancehallreggae.org, thanks to a comment by Gill. I missed out on most of this music back in its day. It just feels so right. I love it. Makes me happy. What a great site. Free.

On this morning’s SFGate:

“S.F. man lost in woods, survives on squirrels, lizards

A 72-year-old San Francisco man was recovering Sunday after he spent 19 days lost in a remote canyon of Mendocino County, surviving on squirrels, lizards and berries, and wrapping himself in leaves and grass to stay warm.…”

Techies in San Francisco I hear (and read) a lot these days about the rich techies pricing out the less affluent in SF.

From Socketsite:

“The average rent for a studio in San Francisco is now $2,312 a month, up 8.7 percent year over year …
The average rent for a San Francisco apartment in general is $2,899 a month, up 3.4 percent from the first quarter of 2013 and 6 percent higher year-over-year, with one-bedrooms averaging $2,782 a month and two-bedrooms with two baths up to $3,791.”

I wonder what % of these people are techies. What about lawyers, financial wonks, other corporate fat-checks? Whatever, it’s too bad. $3k per month rent is 100K in 3 years. Tiny homes, anyone?

On being native I was talking to a Mill Valley cab driver a while ago. He was thinking of leaving. I said, Look, you’re a native, you’ve got to use your knowledge and experience to figure out how to stay. You know your way around. Don’t give up. Be creative. Hang in. Whenever I meet a native San Franciscan, I say so am I — we’re an endangered species, always gets a laugh.

Bounty from beach These days if I’m not getting mussels, I gather seaweed and crab shells, stuff into plastic bags in my daypack, throw on compost pile when I get home, chop up with machete, turn into compost — which I’ve finally got figured out. This pile (5’x5′, 2-3′ high) is steaming, worms are thick. Every single scrap of food (that doesn’t go to the chickens) from 40 years is in our soil, which gets better each year. Speaking of which:

Symphony of the Soil, DVD by Deborah Koons Garcia

Was reviewed in NYTimes last week by Jeannette Catsoulis here. “Infused with an infectious love for its subject, ‘Symphony of the Soil’ presents a wondrous world of critters and bacteria, mulch and manure. Maintaining this layer in all its richness and diversity is, the film argues, perhaps our most critical weapon against climate change. At the very least, you will leave with the profound understanding that feeding our soil is the first step in feeding ourselves.”

“We don’t grow plants, we grow soil. And the soil grows the plants.”

        – A farmer talking about composting

Song For You by Ray Charles on Grooveshark

The weather is beautiful here in the fall. Our best time of year. A lot of the nights are clear and dry, not too cold. Good for sleeping out under the stars. I was in San Francisco yesterday; Golden Gate Park was spectacular. They’re getting ready for the (free) Not Strictly Bluegrass Festival this weekend. I looked at the lineup in SFWeekly, got excited by all the great groups, then realized that it’s gotten too big for me. I used to park my truck out at Ocean Beach, and ride my bike over to the park, then ride around between the 5 stages. But the last time I did this, the whole thing was over-regulated. Can’t ride your bike here, must cross street here, lots of people telling you what to do, where to go. Just too big (500,000 + people.) Like Burning Man. The downside of success. I’m skipping it.

   Anyway, coming up to Golden Gate Bridge on the way back home from the Presidio, past the parking lot, a 20-something-year-old guy on a rented bike with a kid in a seat behind him yelled out something to me as I turned left. I pulled over and he rode up and said. “Aren’t you the guy who does the books on homes?” Turns out he was from British Columbia and he said they all loved the books. Small world.

Rivers of Babylon by The Melodians on Grooveshark